I went on a Friday evening to Oppenheimer movie after the end of a busy
day. Initially I thought it might be tough for me to sit through a biopic for 3
hrs., which is the duration of the movie.
I had been fed on a diet of Hindi
and south Indian movies right from my childhood, which required less use of my
brain. My family also believed that I will
go on a sleep mode during an intellectually challenging movie. So it was a challenge for me to prove that I am
not challenged intellectually. I spent some time gathering information about
the movie. Every minute of it turned
out to be worthwhile. I was glued to
watching the movie for the entire duration.
The experience of watching the
movie was very touching and unfathomable.
Can a documentary on a biopic of a scientist touch a chord in someone’s heart? This movie has been able to achieve it.
The movie is during world war II, the Lt
Gen Leslie Groves has appointed the
renowned Physicist Robert Oppenheimer to work on a
secret Manhattan Project . Oppenheimer
assembles a team of scientists having expertise in the different related areas
in developing and designing the atomic bomb.
The result of the project comes to fruition on July 16, 1945, with the
world’s first nuclear explosion which was the defining moment in the world and impacted
the future course of the history.
The trials and tribulations faced
by Dr Oppenheimer has
been captured beautifully and
there are many poignant moments. His sparks of brilliance has been
shown during his initial research days.
He learnt Dutch language in a short
time and gave quantum physics lecture in the Dutch language.
It was known to the world that he
was a great physicist but the movie depicts his humanness to the core. The initial
purpose of developing an
atomic bomb as per him, was to act as a deterrent so that another country
which may develop it earlier may not
misuse it. Later on after developing the bomb he realizes
it that the decision to where to use it or not rests with the government. President Truman decided to bomb Hiroshima
and Nagasaki to end the war. It is told that
the Japanese army was retreating but Truman wanted to test the bomb. The
bombing effect was loss of thousands of lives. His decision is still debated whether there
was another peaceful way to end the war.
Initially Dr.Oppenheimer was the hero
of the entire country. Since he did not approve
with the government views, he was systematically defamed. His agony can be felt very strongly by the
viewers.
A scientist bent of mind is to explore
things through theorizing and experimenting. The quest for exploring and discovering
new things cannot be stopped. It is inbuilt in a scientist’s DNA. But certain
discoveries can be misused
to harm the human kind. In the movie
it is shown well that creating an atomic bomb was putting the genie out of the
bottle. As per the interaction
between Einstein and oppenheimer, they both realize
that through their discoveries, they have done something which will
impact the man kind for a long time to come. But can the march of scientific
discovery be stopped or must it be regulated? The jury is still out.
Dr. Oppenheimer was influenced by communism
to some extent. He had read the three
books of Das capital in the original German language. He had understood the
concept in its true meaning and not how the government’s around the world view communism
and capitalism and use it for
their own selfish motives.
Dr.Oppenheimer though he was a
famous scientist, was foremost an humanist at the core and his core belief,
shaped his entire thinking. The film brings
across strongly that
all isms whether communism or capitalisms are useless unless
humanism is practiced by the world. If not the world is hurtling towards
the total destruction of humanity. Oppenheimer till his last breath could not
get rid of the feeling that he was a merchant of death by his creation, though he
knew that he had no control on its usage.
